The risk would be to roses that are marginally hardy, so given your climate zone, almost all roses should be OK, and certainly Baltimore Belle. Judging from a study that has been discussed here, you might be able to protect foliage against severe JB damage without doing a lot of environmental harm. (Protecting the flowers is much harder because untreated petals are opening every day.) This would entail removing the open flowers first, then spraying with cyfluthrin, Pyola, or azadirachtin. The latter two are organic products. Cyfluthrin is the most effective. You can find a Bayer spray concentrate with cyfluthrin only (not cyfluthrin + Merit-- imidacloprid-- which will cause spider mite problems). Pyola is available from GardensAlive. Azadirachtin is the insecticidal fraction of neem oil which has been removed from the commonly available neem oil products, probably including whatever you are using. Read neem labels on garden counters until you find azadirachtin as an active ingredient. Pyola was more effective in the study, though. The organic products would need to be applied weekly, cyfluthrin every two weeks.

carrie, around here the 4 o'clocks will make a big tuberous root that will come back bigger and faster in subsequent years, and you'll have blooms much sooner. mine would be full bore by now, but with the strange spring and the droughty conditions i haven't had blooms on even the old ones yet. just let them go this year, and next year should be better. you can get a head start by buying tubers, which are sometimes sold in spring. they'll actually reseed so much you may regret planting them in a few years. they are easy to weed as seedlings, though. the jb's fly when it's warm, so if you are going to do soapy water, it really helps to do it during the morning or evening hours when it's cooler. if you have to do it midday, try spraying them with cold water first, which will slow them down temporarily. after a few days of going after them with the cup/jugs, they'll get wise and move quicker. good luck!

Plant 4 o'clocks -- the jap beetles devour them and then they (the japs) die. I tried it the first time this year, and it really works. There are dead beetles right on and all around my plants. They seem to die while they are in the act of chewing -- it's a beautiful thing. I have fewer this year than I have ever had. Oddly, however, I planted the yellow and white variety from seed, and they all bloomed fuschia. So I have some serious color clashing going on in my pastel garden, but they are worth it for the valuable service they provide.

These guys fly - so they get around, unfortunately! I've never heard of using milky spore three times a year. That would be incredibly expensive - well at least for me on my almost-acre. I read that you apply it once and it spreads on its own. I wonder if I should try another application. I also wonder if I should leave out a few trays of water at night. I seem to mostly find the asiatic beetles in water, but then again I try not to leave much water out. Dee